INTER-AMERICAN
PROGRAM OF QUITO:
COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION TO PREVENT DRUG ABUSE

FOREWORD

Pursuant
to mandates approved by the Inter-American Council for Education, Science,
and Culture (CIECC) and by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control
Commission (CICAD), four workshops on education in the campaign against
drug abuse were held between May 1988 and July 1989. The first took place
in Uruguay in May 1988; the second in Grenada in November 1988, under the cosponsor ship
of CARICOM; the third in Mexico in May 1989, and the fourth
in Argentina in July 1989.

The
agenda for all four workshops, which were attended by representatives of
nearly all OAS member states, was as follows:

Definition
of a common philosophy of action for education against drug abuse and
a mechanism of coordination for application in each country.

Definition
of a clear policy, rules, and regulations on how to handle drug
abusers within the school system: responsibilities of teachers,
students, parents, and school administrators in dealing with the
problem. Knowledge and application of the rules by the educational
community.

Research:
Definition of the type of information and scientific data needed for
action; determination of the available research capacity and/or the
institutions that would need to be developed and strengthened in each
country in order for the required research to be done. Systems for the
apportionment, financing, and analysis of the research and the
dissemination of the results.

Curriculum
development: Policy framing and application in order to include
prevention activities in the curricula of the formal education system.

Teacher
training for the campaign against the drug abuse problem (taking
advantage of the curriculum as well as of the life of the school for
this purpose).

Framing
of a comprehensive education policy designed to promote the
participation of all the sectors of society--the individual, the
family, the school, the community, and the mass media--in non-formal
education.

Instructional
materials: The framing and application of a national policy for the
production of instructional materials, including ordinary textbooks.

Coordinated
inter-agency efforts to support school systems in the design and
implementation of drug abuse prevention programs in the schools, with
special attention to input from the Ministry of Health and the
National Drug Commission in each country.

The
member states of the OAS were consulted on the Plan of Action:
"Education in the Campaign Against Drug Abuse", which was
discussed in the four work-shops. These meetings achieved the objectives
of an exchange of views, a determination of basic components, and specific
cooperative actions, promotion of education as a cornerstone of
prevention, mutual understanding of the problem, and the means of
attacking it, and a commitment to concerted future action with other
sectors and institutions, including horizontal cooperation among the
countries of the Americas.

As
a result of those workshops, the Plan of Action was endorsed and enhanced.
It provided the necessary input for the HEMISPHERE-WIDE MEETING to confirm
and propose the bases for the long-term Inter-American Program for truly
effective preventive action, starting in 1990.

INTER-AMERICAN
PROGRAM OF QUITO: COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION TO PREVENT DRUG ABUSE

I.
SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

In
1986, the member states of the Organization of American States decided, on
the basis of the Charter of the OAS and the Inter-American Program of
Action of Rio de Janeiro against the Illicit Use and Production of
Narcotic Drugs and Psycho-tropic Substances and Trafficking Therein, to
accord the highest priority to measures designed to reduce the demand for
and prevent the use of illicit drugs, and to combat the interrelated
problems of drug trafficking and production. Having noted the alarming
increase in the abuse of drugs in the region and the serious social
consequences for the health of peoples and nations, the member states
recognized the priority and importance of education in the inter-American
effort to eliminate the problems of the production, trafficking and use of
narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Policy-makers
and technical representatives of the international community, both in the
United Nations and in the OAS, have repeatedly called the drug problem one
of the most critical of our times, a universal drama confronting mankind,
and one of the principal sources of violence in the world, incompatible
with peace, solidarity and development. They have ratified the priority of
comprehensive preventive education and the need for coordination between
and among the United Nations, the OAS, bilateral and other programs of
cooperation, in order to maximize the use of international, multinational
and bilateral contributions directed toward solving the problem.

Within
the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and the Inter-
American Council for Education, Science and Culture (CIECC), the member
states of the OAS have defined a common conceptual basis that considers
drug abuse as a systemic problem requiring an inter-sectoral,
inter-institutional, interdisciplinary and international response. It has
been agreed that prevention methods that use education as a means of
reaching children, youth, the family and the community should be an
organic part of the educational system, and not an isolated topic within
it. It is also suggested that in order for society fully to understand the
problem of drug abuse, concrete, ongoing action must be taken to create in
the community a clear awareness of the problem and a firm commitment to
action. By using the community participation approach, which includes
parents in the prevention process, the educational environment of the
child, the young person, the adult and the elderly is broadened and
expanded: the community is the educational environment par excellence.

The
member states have also emphasized the need for addressing the structural
social, political and economic causes that give rise to individualism, the
consumer society, the absence of strong affective ties within the family
and in society, the lack of important life goals, and the inequality of
opportunities in education, health and social advancement, all of which
create an environment which aggravates the drug problem.

The
concept of comprehensive preventive education is that it is a basic
process of social education, which fosters the values of the work ethic,
the family as a nucleus that generates human values, the care of children
who will be the future promoters of social change, and a narrowing of the
generation gap. Comprehensive prevention education, understood as social
education, covers a broad educational base that promotes human values and
comprises: formal and nonformal education, community life, the world of
work, the mass media, and other facets of society. This comprehensive,
holistic concept of prevention is also geared to solving the problem of
the critical populations in certain regions of the Americas who have no
education -- the so-called "street children".

II.
OBJECTIVES

The
Inter-American Program of Quito: Comprehensive Education to Prevent Drug
Abuse, as part of a demand reduction strategy, has the following
objectives:

A.
To establish the bases of and prospects for multi-national, regional,
sub-regional and bilateral support for national activities of the formal
and non-formal educational systems for the comprehensive prevention of drug
use, with appropriate participation of the family and the community.

B.
To identify, propose and implement the specific measures, mechanisms and
specific activities needed in the region to achieve an immediate impact in
the area of comprehensive, systemic and permanent drug abuse prevention
education, in the short, medium and long-term.

C.
To promote, reinforce and complement the comprehensive prevention
education programs in the member states through development of specific,
innovative experiences that use practice-based, replicable methodologies
designed to discourage and diminish participation in the production and
use of illicit drugs and trafficking therein.

D.
To promote, region-wide, optimal use of resources by governments and
institutions, and to maximize the investments by international agencies
and institutions and donor governments by organizing and systematizing the
planning, execution, follow-up and evaluation of multinational projects
and activities in the area of comprehensive preventive education,
consistent with the concerns of the member states.

E.
To contribute to improving, strengthening and/or building an institutional
capacity in the education, health, justice and other sectors that are
increasingly addressing the problem among various population groups.

F.
To intensify educational activities to prevent drug abuse, production and
trafficking in critically poor rural and urban areas, which are the areas
most adversely affected by society's structural crisis.

III.
THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PROGRAM

To
achieve these overall objectives, the Program will work toward the
following specific goals, within a framework that is based on the
countries' comprehensive preventive education programs, the agreements and
recommendations on preventive education made in technical and
policy-making fora, and research findings:

A.
To identify and prioritize the obstacles to curriculum change, the
training of teachers and educational agents, studies and research, and the
development of preventive education materials, as well as the problems
encountered in applying them in the schools and extending them to the
community.

B.
To identify, prioritize and facilitate execution of the actions required
in the region for:

Education,
specialization and training of teachers, technical personnel, youth
leaders, parents and other educational agents to carry out a
continuing comprehensive prevention education plan under ongoing
supervision. Monitoring of the progress of this process, with emphasis
on modules based on the individual, the social and family context,
prevention in schools, community mobilization and participation
techniques, information concerning drugs, and the creation of
prevention units in schools;

Studies
and research; the gathering, processing and circulation of specialized
information;

Development
of textbooks and materials for comprehensive preventive education,
including alternative mass media and distance education;

Development
of innovative efforts to achieve community mobilization and
participation, media support, and the coordination of
intergovernmental, inter-sectoral and inter-institutional efforts.

C.
To support and facilitate the identification of the resources needed to
address priority problems, including the design of projects that are in
accordance with the countries' criteria and mechanisms, giving flexibility
to the criteria and procedures of the financing institutions.

D.
To identify, systematize and publicize experiences and information
regarding all types of resources which can be used in the field of
comprehensive preventive education.

E.
Through information networks, to maintain a constant flow throughout the
region of specialized information on activities, experiences, follow-up
and evaluation, and offers of horizontal cooperation under the
Inter-American Program of Quito: Comprehensive Education to Prevent Drug
Abuse.

F.
To develop, refine and evaluate, on an ongoing basis, the Inter-American
Program of Quito: Comprehensive Education to Prevent Drug Abuse.

In
the formulation, execution and evaluation phases, the Program will:

Emphasize
multinational programming and intergovernmental cooperation, and
strengthen the mechanisms of internal communication within each
country, so as to involve the national coordinating agencies in the
implementation of the Program;

Facilitate
horizontal cooperation and inter-sectoral and intergovernmental
coordination, bearing in mind the potential of each country;

Promote
and facilitate the participation of the family and the community in
the development of the project and in the range of actions and
benefits;

Develop
and give priority to activities related to curriculum, materials
development, training and research and investigation, in addition to
the promotion of media support, and family and community mobilization
and participation in such efforts;

Promote
cooperation and coordinated activities among the OAS (CICAD and CIECC),
the United Nations, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO),
CARICOM, the Inter-American Children's Institute (IIN), the Latin
American Institute of the United Nations for the Prevention of Crime
and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD), the Inter-American Commission
of Women (CIM), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on
Agriculture (IICA), the South American Accord on Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances (ASEP) and other specialized agencies, for the
benefit of the people, which is the mission of these agencies, and
channeling the resources through the pertinent national agencies.

IV.
BENEFICIARIES

The
actions, activities and projects will benefit all the member states of the
OAS, and will provide parallel benefits, through horizontal cooperation,
to OAS Permanent Observer countries and to other multilateral and national
institutions whose policies and guidelines are consistent with those of
the Program.

The
beneficiaries will be:

The
infant and juvenile populations, as well as their families and
communities, with emphasis on those most at risk for drug abuse.

The
actions, activities and projects of the Program will reach their targets
through training, advisory services, specialization, education, support
and research directed toward the following:

Teachers,
technical personnel and administrators/supervisors at the various levels
of the education system, including universities and other institutions
working in this field;

Administrators,
technicians and teachers in decentralized institutions of the Ministries
of Education, Health, Justice and other ministries that conduct on
coordinated com prehensive drug abuse prevention education activities;

Technical
and administrative personnel of public and private research and training
centers, especially organizations that do community-based prevention work
with children, young people and families.

Technical
personnel of non-governmental organizations with installed capacity, and
experience in the community, particularly those that work with young
people and families.

V.
OPERATIONAL MECHANISMS

In
light of the scope of the problem described in Chapter I and the concept
of comprehensive, systemic and permanent prevention education, the Program
will reinforce international, sub-regional and national efforts in:

Curriculum

Training

Materials
Development

Research
and Evaluation

Outreach
to community, family and the media.

In
order to make the best possible use of regional, multilateral,
institutional and national resources, the Program will strengthen:

The
exchange of information among the member states about research,
studies and experiences on the four priority topics, through the
hemisphere-wide clearing house, with its headquarters in CICAD
(Inter-American Drug Information Center), and national and
sub-regional
information centers;

Regional
or sub-regional courses, workshops and seminars. The Program may have
sub-regional training centers or centers of excellence that may also
provide regional or multilateral specialized services to the member
states;

In
order for the Program to designate a center of excellence as a regional
service center, an institution must meet the following qualifications: it
must have an installed capacity, qualified technical personnel,
international prestige and experience, and an operational budget for its
normal service activities.

Professional
exchanges within and outside the region, to train administrators,
technical personnel, teachers, community and youth leaders, in
innovative experiences, particularly those in which families and the
community are directly involved;

Sub-regional
or in-country training programs using traveling teams of experienced
trainers, which would cover some of the specialized areas requested by
the countries and institutions, to train personnel who are beginning
diagnostic studies linking comprehensive prevention education programs
to dissemination programs, and to provide technical assistance in
program management;

Related
practice-based research in which various governments or institutions
undertake to cooperate in the analysis of a common topic;

Fellowships
in specified areas.

The
Program will publicize fellowship announcements and requirements. It will
also strengthen coordination with the Regional Training Program of the
Department of Fellowships and Culture of the Organization of American
States, in order to seek fellowships, and will seek to establish
specialized fellowships programs with Permanent Observer countries.

Design
and development of specific sub-regional or multinational projects.

Project proposals should specify:

The
significant specific problems to be addressed by the project;

The
objectives of the project in terms of the problem(s) identified;

The
participating countries and/or executing agencies* responsible for
carrying out the project activities in country;

The
qualitative and quantitative goals which it is expected will be
achieved as a result of the activities;

The
beneficiaries in the country, group of countries or the region;

The
phases of execution (initiation, expansion, consolidation, etc.)
Initial or pilot activities could be considered as intensive work,
with a five-year plan for expansion in some areas;

The
specific activities or tasks needed to accomplish the objectives and
goals;

Schedule
of activities and tasks, and assignment of responsibilities to
executing agencies;

Machinery
for follow-up and evaluation;

National
counterpart resources and approximate budget for the project;

Other
sources of financing and other institutions that may participate in
project execution;

Activities
to be carried out by the General Secretariat of the Organization of
American States, with suggestion of priority activities to support
project execution.

VI.
STAGES OF IMPLEMENTATION

The
Inter-American Program of Quito: Comprehensive Education to Prevent Drug
Abuse will be implemented in the following stages:

A.
Initiation

As
agreed with the participating countries and institutions, CICAD and
CIECC will draw up a table of horizontal cooperation, consolidating the
proposals made at the CICAD/CIECC Hemisphere-Wide Meeting on Programming
and Implementation of the Inter-American Plan of Action: Education in
the Campaign against Drug Abuse, held in Quito, Ecuador in May 1990, and
will take steps to begin execution of priority activities.

CICAD
and CIECC will also reformulate requests for technical and financial
support, so as to meet the requirements for financing from other
agencies, international organizations and Permanent Observer countries.
Once projects are completed, they will be presented to a project review
committee for review and recommendation.

The
countries and institutions will define their commitments in writing, and
will present them for consideration to CICAD, specifying the proposed
technical team that will execute the activity, the physical
infrastructure that will be needed, and the funding pledged by the
counterpart.

Multinational
projects and activities falling within the Program that are in a
position to execute some activities with counterpart funds would be
strengthened. According to availability, the Program will complement the
technical assistance necessary to improve or expand some categories of
activities, subject to a prior technical needs assessment.

Groups
of experts or task forces may be formed, according to need. Some
national coordinators may be trained on a short-term basis.

On
the basis of the Inter-American Program of Quito: Comprehensive
Education to Prevent Drug Abuse, CIECC and CICAD may, in cooperation
with the countries concerned, design multinational experimental or
demonstration projects, for possible inclusion in the Program during the
following biennium.

B.
Development, follow-up and evaluation

The
multinational and sub-regional projects making up the Program will
include an evaluation process, to be designed by CIECC and CICAD in
cooperation with the donor agencies, and the participating countries.
Evaluation and follow-up mechanisms will be incorporated into the
Program from the outset, with participation by technical specialists
from the countries and institutions.

C.
Consolidation and expansion

Based
on the results of the ongoing evaluation of the initiation, development,
follow-up and evaluation, projects and activities will be expanded and
extended. In some cases, experimental projects may be replicated
nationally, sub-regionally or regionally. Progress reports will be
provided on all projects and activities, including information on
problems encountered, through the information system and horizontal
cooperation. Since the Program will be a flexible one, it will be
refined as experience dictates.

*Institutions:
In requests for external funding, some donor organizations require
information on: description of the requesting institution; its
organization, financing and human resources, programs of activities,
responsibilities in the region's development process, the type of
activities it promotes and executes, resources available for the efficient
and effective implementation of the activities that it intends to support
for comprehensive preventive education.